Blood Oath
' |image= |series= |production=40512-439 |producer(s)= |story= |script= Peter Allan Fields |director= Winrich Kolbe |imdbref=tt0708507 |guests=John Colicos as Kor, William Campbell as Koloth, Michael Ansara as Kang, Bill Bolender as The Albino and Christopher Collins as Assistant |previous_production=Profit and Loss |next_production=The Maquis Part 1 |episode=DS9 S02E19 |airdate=27 March 1994 |previous_release=(DS9) Profit and Loss (Overall) Genesis |next_release=(DS9) The Maquis Part 1 (Overall) Journey's End |story_date(s)=Unknown |group="N"}} (2370) |previous_story= Journey's End Genesis |next_story= Firstborn Journey's End }} Summary Three ancient Klingon warriors - Kang, Koloth, and Kor - rendezvous at DS9 looking for Curzon Dax. About eighty years ago, an Albino killed the trio's children by infecting them with a genetic virus. At the time, Curzon Dax. the godfather of Kang's son, joined the three Klingon warriors in swearing a blood oath to find the Albino, cut his heart from his chest, and eat it as the villain watched with dying breath. Kang has called the band together because he has finally located his nemesis, but he wasn't aware that Curzon had died. At first reluctant, he eventually agrees to allow Jadzia Dax to fulfill Curzon's oath. On the way to the Albino's stronghold, however, Dax realizes that something is wrong. She confronts Kang, and he admits making a deal with the Albino. The warriors will attack without strategy and die glorious deaths. "It is a good day to die," he says. Instead, Dax convinces him that it is a good day to live. She disables the Albino's weaponry, and the quartet attack with bat'leths, slaying every defender of their opponent. By the time the battle ends, Kang and Koloth lay dead, as does the Albino—slain by Kang's own hand - while a wounded Kor sings of their victory and Dax grieves for the friends she's lost. Errors and Explanations Plot Oversights # All three Klingons appeared in Classic Trek episodes. While it was delightful to see the old guys again, many nitpickers had the same questions. First, how come these guys looked like humans in their original episode but somehow grew turtle heads and nose ridges in this episode? (l suspect bad TV reception in the 1960s. The ridges were always there, but you just couldn't see them.) SPOILER ALERT! They may have been afflicted by the Klingon Augment virus featured in the Star Trek: Enterprise episodes Affliction and Divergence, and subsequently underwent treatment to restore their true appearance after the Amar incident. Second, are Klingons supposed to get this old? In All Good Things... (TNG), the action zipped twenty-five years into the future. That made Worf approximately sixty, and he looked just as old as these guys, who supposedly were over a hundred. (Must have something to do with being a Klingon Dahar master.) Maybe some Klingons age at a slower rate than others. # Sometimes Odo cracks me up. Our favourite shape shifter puts Kor in a cell and retires to his office. A slow camera pan shows the outer doors open before finding Odo reading with his back to the door. He suddenly spins and looks up to find Koloth staring down at him. "How did you get in here?" Odo huffs. Well, maybe he walked through the open doorway! Perhaps Odo’s question is intended to ascertain how Koloth was able to open the door # Trying to endear herself to Koloth, Dax pronounces that she used to call him "d'Akturak." Oddly enough, she then tums to Kor and translates the title to Federation Standard: "Iceman." Obviously Dax knows that these events are being recorded in a visual log, and she wants to make sure future generations won't miss the meaning of her words. Certainly Kor didn't need the translation. Maybe Dax is making sure she has the pronounciation right. # Discovering that Dax is going on the quest to kill the Albino, Sisko comes to her quarters to dissuade her He tells her that he never understood why Curzon made the blood oath in the first place. He says that whatever else Curzon was, he was fundamentally moral. Then Sisko asks, '"What about the laws of the Federation?" Dax replies that the Klingons have their own laws and that this quest is justice to them. She adds that she respects their ways. Yeah? Well, respect is one thing. Going along for the hunt is something altogether different. At least when Worf killed Duras in a rite of vengeance during Reunion (TNG), he was a Klingon to begin with. Dax has nothing to hide behind. The behavior guidelines established by both her race and her chosen organization simply do not allow this. Sisko should have slapped her down hard and been done with it. (Of course, then it would have been a short show.) That could have jeopardised the Federation-Klingon alliance. # Boy, Sisko really wimps out at the end of this episode. His science office has just openly defied him and tramped all over Federation standards for an officer in Starfleet. And what does he do when she sneaks back into Ops? He gives her a really severe glare (l bet that hurt!) At the very least he should have informed her of the reprimand that would appear on her permanent record, just as Picard did to Worf in Reunion, (Or did Sisko really let her get away with this scot-free?) Kor may have put in a good word on Jadzia’s behalf. Changed Premises # Shortly after the conclusion of Classic Trek, Leonard Nimoy felt the urge to write a book called I Am Not Spock. Decades later he decided to pen the sequel, I Am Spock. Jadzia Dax seems to have the same difficulty. At the end Of "Playing God," she proudIy proclaimed, "l am not Curzon." Yet, in this episode, she seems to be doing everything to say, "l am Curzon and bound by his blood oath." Jadzia has no desire to emulate Curzon’s behaviour, but wants to honour his memory by participating in the raid on his behalf. # The episode Heart of Glory (TNG) went to great lengths to show us the Klingon death ritual. The eyes of the slain warrior are held open while those still living howl at the ceiling. Supposedly this warns the dead that a Klingon warrior is about to arrive. This tradition must have started sometime after Kor got set in his ways. Being the only Klingon survivor of the battle, it would have fallen to him to perform the ritual. Instead, he begins singing. (The death howl is probably a private thing for him and he was waiting for us to leave before performing it.) Perhaps he feels the song will do the job of warning the dead of their arrival, while honouring them at the same time. Equipment Oddities # I know I've mentioned this particular oddity before, but it bears repeating. At the beginning of the episode, Quark and Odo walk up to a holosuite and you can hear Kor inside shouting. I reiterate: If l were using a holosuite, I definitely would not want people outside the holosuite to hear what was going on inside the holosuite! Either the door was open or there was a gap in the soundproofing! # So...um...why isn't the famed Universal Translator working when Kor comes roaring out of the holosuite after Quark turns off the power? (Oh, wait. I said we weren't going to talk about the UT anymore. Sorry.) The Universal Translator may have been deactivated by Quark switching off the power. # To even the odds against the AIbino's forces, Dax suggests using the disrupter banks and flooding the area with tetryon particles. This will render all phasers useless. Several points of interest here. 1) This seems like a really good tactic. I wonder why it's never been used before and never is used again. (Is it considered naughty?) It may not be considered power efficient. 2) It's amazing that the Albino's home team fails to notice that their phasers have quit working until it's too late. Is this such an unknown tactic that no one scans for tetryon particles? The tetryon particles may have also disrupted the scanning equipment. 3) Finally; Dax uses the disrupter banks on the Bird-of-Prey to create this wonderful field while the craft is cloaked. I believe it is well established that cloaked ships cannot fire their weapons—so much so that one of the key components of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was a new experimental ship that could fire while cloaked. Dax may have worked out a way to fire the disrupter blasts through small, short lived gaps in the cloaking field. # The Albino evidently buys his computer systems from the Cardassians. In the main battle area, there are two units—one on either side of the big staircase—that look just like the one Garak worked on during Cardassians. This same piece of equipment also showed up on the surface of T 'Lani Ill during Armageddon Game. So what? Lots of companies produce near identical looking PC computer cases. # At the end of this episode, Kang goes after the Albino with his bat'leth. When the Albino dodges one of Kang's lunges, the bat'leth strikes a stone surface and shatters. Does this seem right? The bat'leth blade may have been weakened by age and constant use. Continuity And Production Problems # As Kang's Bird-of-Prey approaches the Albino's location, Dax suggests that they cloak. Kang agrees, but the next exterior shot shows the ship blazing ahead uncloaked. There may have been a intermittent fault in the cloaking device. # It’s a minor thing, but at the end of the episode, when Dax returns to Ops, a low-placed shot clearly shows that her pants do not have stirrups. This is a change. A close-up of Bashir's feet during The Passenger clearly showed stirrups on his pants. The stirrups could have been removed from uniform pants between the events of the two episodes. Nit Central # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Thursday, September 14, 2000 - 1:56 am: How could Curzon be a Godfather to a Klingon? According to Worf, ancient Klingon warriors killed the Klingon Gods because they were too much trouble. Although in You Are Cordially Invited stated that the Klingon Gods were killed by the beating of the hearts of the Klingon Adam & Eve. Either way, the Klingon Gods are dead and unlikely to be honored. (Or do Klingon children have to kill their godparents at some point to be considered warriors?;-) constanze on Friday, October 17, 2003 - 1:32 pm: Why shouldn't he? I assume this expression is the nearest Fed. Standard Equivalent (= English word) for what the term means, that is, a guardian who takes the child in if sth. happens to the parents. E.g., the German translation, "Pate", doesn't show the religious meaning in the word, although it comes from the same practice as the English one (I presume: from the early Christians in Rome). Since Klingon warriors are more likely to be killed than a peaceful race, it makes a lot of sense to have the institution of godfathers, even if the klingon word doesn't refer to deities. # If Curzon turned his back on Kang and walked out, then how could Curzon have seen the look on Kang's face? Either by looking over his shoulder, or by using a security mirror in the room. # D.K. Henderson on Saturday, April 30, 2005 - 12:10 pm: Regarding Kor not making the Death Howl--where Koloth was concerned, there was still a battle in progress, and he really didn't have time. Perhaps it makes a difference if a Klingon dies in actual combat, as opposed to dying in an accident or by illness. Mr Crusher on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 7:52 am: I doubt it matters how a Klingon dies, I think they normally do it no matter. I think it wasn't done because Kor was busy with the battle. # Cybermortis on Monday, May 05, 2008 - 1:41 pm:''What happened to the crew of Khang's ship? The B'Rell is meant to have a crew of a dozen but we only see four people on board. And if the ship doesn't have a crew how did Dax and Kor get back onboard her after killing everyone? '''Maybe we just didn’t see the other crewmembers.' Notes Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine